day. it is the flowering of our soul. putin made it clear today how important ukraine is to russia. he said, quote, ukraine is not just a neighboring country for us. it is an integral part of our own country, and space. saying, quote, ukraine never had a tradition of genuine state hood. from the first steps, they built their state hood on the denial of everything that unites us. the memory of millions of people, generations living in ukraine, end quote. the pull izer prize winning columnist tweets, the speech full of historical nonsense. joining us now, anne applebaum.